(no subject)
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNDER AMERICA
* Schurmann - observed that only 6 crop types were planted on 90% of the Philippines’ cultivated land
1. rice
2. corn
3. sugar
4. abaca
5. tobacco
6. coconut
(the agriculture in the country was COMMERCIAL - the Philippines’ #1 trade partner: Britain)
Changes suggested by Schurmann:
- expand production
- free trade = no tariff
(tariff -> tax on imported goods to avoid surplus of the said goods)
Payne-Aldrich Act of 1909
- US goods could come to the Philippines with no quotas, no duties, no tariffs
- The Philippines could send goods to the US with no duties, but with quota
- PARTIAL FREE TRADE
Underwood-Simmons Act
- removed the Philippine quota
- FREE TRADE!
American goods: cigarettes, cars, cotton, industrial machinery, meat, etc. (largely manufactured; most of the imports were finished products)
Philippine goods: raw materials (65% of our exports went to the US)
EFFECTS OF FREE TRADE:
1. Discouraged industrialization
o Why should we make our own products if we can get cheap quality goods from the US?
2. Local entrepreneurs had difficulty competing with the imports
o How could they compete with the high quality & low prices?
3. Philippine products exported to the US were very much in demand
o this led to an expansion of Philippine agriculture
>> overspecialization of crops
>> the Philippines did not develop new markets (trade was mostly w/ the US)
4. Improved standard of living
- profitability of trade led to better infrastructure, etc.
DANGEROUS EFFECTS OF FREE TRADE:
1. if the US pulled out of free trade, the Philippine economy would collapse
[The free trade would only last while the Philippines is a colony of the US. Once we gain independence, NOMO FREE TRADE!]
• free trade resulted to high revenues
• Taxing the land owners could have helped the country for the end of free trade. However, because most of the Philippine legislators were landowners themselves, they did not impose any changes in tax policy throughout the entire American era
• The free trade led to prosperity for the Philippines. Its long-term effects, however, were harmful.
LAND & AGRICULTURE
The Americans decided to address the land ownership monopoly to pave the way for SOCIAL REFORM (they were appalled at the conditions of land tenants in the country)
Types of tenants:
1. inquilino - leasehold tenancy (land rent!)
2. kasama - share tenancy (land share!)
- paid the landlord by sharing his harvest
Why focus on the issue of land?
1) to quell social unrest (to pacify those seeking & fighting for change in society)
2) free tenants from dependence on their landlords
3) increase agricultural productivity
• The Philippine economy was a cash-crop economy
• The issue of land was also an issue of political stability
- main issue: access to land of Filipinos
- to solve this: LAND REFORM
• The Americans were genuinely horrified at the plight of land tenants, especially the KASAMA
Justification for Americans’ focus on land: if they allow the Filipinos to own land, that would give them an incentive to be more productive.
Options of Americans to distribute lands among Filipinos:
1. public lands - Public Lands Act of 1902
>> land that is owned by the country under the hands of the government
>> after conducting a survey, they found out that the country had 27.7 million hectares of public land technically owned by the US as part of the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris
• Public Lands Act of 1902
- passed by the US Congress
- would grant patents (government grant of exclusive rights to land) to those already occupying public lands
- those who did not have land could apply for the same patent
- Filipinos could apply for a parent for a maximum of 16 hectares
- Was free and open to everyone (both Filipinos & Americans)
- This made the goal of HOMESTEADING possible (owners of land would live in their “area” and would develop that)\
- SYSTEM:
a) nominal fee 20 pesos (application fee, payable over 5 years)
b) owners had to stay on the land and make it productive (they could not leave their lands for more than 6 months)
2. private lands - confiscate lands
- would antagonize those who owned vast pockets of land
- those who owned private lands were the very Filipinos who accepted American rule way back in 1901
• Friar Lands Acts of 1903
- the US would purchase land from the friar estates
- the Vatican itself instructed the friars to sell their land
- friar lands were already well-developed (166 hectares for P 14.5 million)
- targeted the tenants who were already telling & working the land
- this land had to be PAID FOR for ownership (purchase price + interest, payable over 20 years)
Results of Land Reform Policy:
1) not all Filipinos (particularly the KASAMAS) could afford the friar lands
>> only the INQUILINOS could pay for the land
2) the public lands act’s system was quite complicated
- pick land
- post public notice of interest of ownership in newspapers
- settle land dispute in judicial court by filing a case
- once you own the land, you had to clear it and make the land conducive to farming
- farmers had to wait at least 2 years for their first crop
>> too tiring & too tedious for the poor Filipino farmers
>> also too expensive
• social unrest was still present despite these land reforms because only the rich & those educated enough to understand the law benefited
• the unrest was no longer anti-American at this time, but rich versus poor
Signs of unrest:
a) millenarian / messianic groups - promised redemption to peasants and guaranteed that they would soon own land
>> Pulahan & Pedro Calosa
>> Colorum - used Folk Christianity in its messianic movements
b) labor organizing (the peasants got together to fight & protest abuse)
c) the emergence of a new political party SAKDAL
>> criticized the Nacionalista Party for delaying Philippine independence by making the country highly dependent on the US
d) emergence of radical ideological groups
>> Communist party
>> Socialist party
Government responses to unrest:
a) highlighted the value of harmony (between rich & poor Filipinos) in the educational system & in society
b) instructed the Philippine Constabulary to break up strikes and insurgencies
c) pushed for the registration of secret societies so that they may be officially recognized
d) the police force was fortified with more recruits to pacify “rebellions”
>> leaders of peasant uprisings and messianic movements, upon their captures, were branded insane and sent to mental asylums
* Schurmann - observed that only 6 crop types were planted on 90% of the Philippines’ cultivated land
1. rice
2. corn
3. sugar
4. abaca
5. tobacco
6. coconut
(the agriculture in the country was COMMERCIAL - the Philippines’ #1 trade partner: Britain)
Changes suggested by Schurmann:
- expand production
- free trade = no tariff
(tariff -> tax on imported goods to avoid surplus of the said goods)
Payne-Aldrich Act of 1909
- US goods could come to the Philippines with no quotas, no duties, no tariffs
- The Philippines could send goods to the US with no duties, but with quota
- PARTIAL FREE TRADE
Underwood-Simmons Act
- removed the Philippine quota
- FREE TRADE!
American goods: cigarettes, cars, cotton, industrial machinery, meat, etc. (largely manufactured; most of the imports were finished products)
Philippine goods: raw materials (65% of our exports went to the US)
EFFECTS OF FREE TRADE:
1. Discouraged industrialization
o Why should we make our own products if we can get cheap quality goods from the US?
2. Local entrepreneurs had difficulty competing with the imports
o How could they compete with the high quality & low prices?
3. Philippine products exported to the US were very much in demand
o this led to an expansion of Philippine agriculture
>> overspecialization of crops
>> the Philippines did not develop new markets (trade was mostly w/ the US)
4. Improved standard of living
- profitability of trade led to better infrastructure, etc.
DANGEROUS EFFECTS OF FREE TRADE:
1. if the US pulled out of free trade, the Philippine economy would collapse
[The free trade would only last while the Philippines is a colony of the US. Once we gain independence, NOMO FREE TRADE!]
• free trade resulted to high revenues
• Taxing the land owners could have helped the country for the end of free trade. However, because most of the Philippine legislators were landowners themselves, they did not impose any changes in tax policy throughout the entire American era
• The free trade led to prosperity for the Philippines. Its long-term effects, however, were harmful.
LAND & AGRICULTURE
The Americans decided to address the land ownership monopoly to pave the way for SOCIAL REFORM (they were appalled at the conditions of land tenants in the country)
Types of tenants:
1. inquilino - leasehold tenancy (land rent!)
2. kasama - share tenancy (land share!)
- paid the landlord by sharing his harvest
Why focus on the issue of land?
1) to quell social unrest (to pacify those seeking & fighting for change in society)
2) free tenants from dependence on their landlords
3) increase agricultural productivity
• The Philippine economy was a cash-crop economy
• The issue of land was also an issue of political stability
- main issue: access to land of Filipinos
- to solve this: LAND REFORM
• The Americans were genuinely horrified at the plight of land tenants, especially the KASAMA
Justification for Americans’ focus on land: if they allow the Filipinos to own land, that would give them an incentive to be more productive.
Options of Americans to distribute lands among Filipinos:
1. public lands - Public Lands Act of 1902
>> land that is owned by the country under the hands of the government
>> after conducting a survey, they found out that the country had 27.7 million hectares of public land technically owned by the US as part of the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris
• Public Lands Act of 1902
- passed by the US Congress
- would grant patents (government grant of exclusive rights to land) to those already occupying public lands
- those who did not have land could apply for the same patent
- Filipinos could apply for a parent for a maximum of 16 hectares
- Was free and open to everyone (both Filipinos & Americans)
- This made the goal of HOMESTEADING possible (owners of land would live in their “area” and would develop that)\
- SYSTEM:
a) nominal fee 20 pesos (application fee, payable over 5 years)
b) owners had to stay on the land and make it productive (they could not leave their lands for more than 6 months)
2. private lands - confiscate lands
- would antagonize those who owned vast pockets of land
- those who owned private lands were the very Filipinos who accepted American rule way back in 1901
• Friar Lands Acts of 1903
- the US would purchase land from the friar estates
- the Vatican itself instructed the friars to sell their land
- friar lands were already well-developed (166 hectares for P 14.5 million)
- targeted the tenants who were already telling & working the land
- this land had to be PAID FOR for ownership (purchase price + interest, payable over 20 years)
Results of Land Reform Policy:
1) not all Filipinos (particularly the KASAMAS) could afford the friar lands
>> only the INQUILINOS could pay for the land
2) the public lands act’s system was quite complicated
- pick land
- post public notice of interest of ownership in newspapers
- settle land dispute in judicial court by filing a case
- once you own the land, you had to clear it and make the land conducive to farming
- farmers had to wait at least 2 years for their first crop
>> too tiring & too tedious for the poor Filipino farmers
>> also too expensive
• social unrest was still present despite these land reforms because only the rich & those educated enough to understand the law benefited
• the unrest was no longer anti-American at this time, but rich versus poor
Signs of unrest:
a) millenarian / messianic groups - promised redemption to peasants and guaranteed that they would soon own land
>> Pulahan & Pedro Calosa
>> Colorum - used Folk Christianity in its messianic movements
b) labor organizing (the peasants got together to fight & protest abuse)
c) the emergence of a new political party SAKDAL
>> criticized the Nacionalista Party for delaying Philippine independence by making the country highly dependent on the US
d) emergence of radical ideological groups
>> Communist party
>> Socialist party
Government responses to unrest:
a) highlighted the value of harmony (between rich & poor Filipinos) in the educational system & in society
b) instructed the Philippine Constabulary to break up strikes and insurgencies
c) pushed for the registration of secret societies so that they may be officially recognized
d) the police force was fortified with more recruits to pacify “rebellions”
>> leaders of peasant uprisings and messianic movements, upon their captures, were branded insane and sent to mental asylums